The Good, The Bad, and The Awkward – Your Weekly News 10/5/2014

The Good: We’ll go ahead and start with the good news. Here are the weekend highlights.

Ebola Screening:

While the U.S. has always welcomed world travelers to visit the vast country, there comes a time when safety becomes everyone’s concern. Since the Ebola outbreak in Western Africa, airports are now considering extensive screening at airports for those coming from affected countries by checking people’s temperatures. While this may seem like bad news, the spread of Ebola in Africa has had devastating consequences and an outbreak in the U.S. could mean a whole world of trouble. We can only hope that those affected and their families can get the help they need so we can kick Ebola in the butt!

New Maps of Ocean Floor:

Emerging from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, scientists have made new and updated maps of the ocean floor. These amazing maps show the amount of gravitational pull in certain areas as well as seismic activity. Innovation can come from some of the worst circumstances and understanding our world can help us to protect it as well as ourselves. These new maps show deep water mountains and volcanoes never previously known to exist. Now if only we could find what we lose down there…

New York Film Festival:

For all the film buffs in the world, New York Film Festival is up there with Cannes and Sundance. While not so underground, the festival is still far from Hollywood and we can tip our hats to that. This year, Inherent Vice is the film to see, which is starring Joaquin Phoenix. Unfortunately, all screenings of the film are already sold out.

The Bad: Sometimes we forget how fragile our every day lives can be. Here is what’s going on elsewhere.

Ebola in U.S.:

To the absolute terror of U.S. residents, a homeless man in Texas has been diagnosed with the Ebola virus. Tens of thousands of people have been infected with the virus in Western Africa, with the death toll rising and the number of people exposed unfathomable. Efforts to curb the virus’s spread have been extensive, but slow. The thought of an uncontrollable outbreak in the U.S. is terrifying, especially since the most promising medicine is quickly running out.

Typhoon Hits Tokyo:

On Wednesday the Typhoon Wipha hit the largest city in Japan, Tokyo. The extreme storm cut through the tiny country and devastated multiple metropolitan areas. In Tokyo alone, 18 people were killed and another 44 seriously injured. The amount of damage from the storm has yet to be calculated, but it seems as though Japan can’t get a break after all the radiation seeping onto its shores.

Mexico Massacre:

Earlier this week, officials discovered a mass grave in Iguala Guerrero, Mexico. Over 25 bodies were found that were burned beyond recognition, only bone remained. This discovery comes as a worry to families of protesting students in the area who have gone missing. It is suspected that corrupt police officers working with the local drug cartel kidnapped the students and handed them over to be executed and burned. The Iguala Guerrero area has been notorious for corrupt officials, drug cartel, and looming turf wars. We can only hope that the remaining missing students can make it back home safe.

And The Awkward: Take it as good news, take it as bad news, but uh… here ya go.

Michael Phelps Goes to Rehab:

Everyone’s favorite handsome and gold metal-winning American swimmer, Michael Phelps, recently stated that he is taking a hiatus from swimming to check into a 6 week rehab program. This announcement is only fitting since the swimmer recently received a DUI. It seems as though celebrities check into rehab whether they need to or not after they get into trouble. Their publicists might seem to think that this makes them look better, but in reality it makes them look like they have more of a problem than they probably have. While driving under the influence is extremely dangerous, careless, and dumb, it doesn’t necessarily mean the driver has a problem. A few years ago, Phelps was under fire for being caught smoking marijuana so, hopefully he’ll get his act together after this.

Sarah Silverman as Joan Rivers on SNL:

Tributes can come in many forms. For Sarah Silverman, this came in an SNL skit. The comedian dressed up as her dear departed friend Joan Rivers to give an impression of the actress and comedian that only a friend could do. The skit portrayed Rivers as just arriving in heaven and doing some classic stand-up with the likes of other deceased celebrities played by the SNL cast. It might have been a little awkward, but what SNL skit isn’t?

Instant Checkmate:

For those with a criminal record, or even one too many speeding tickets, a new website called Instant Checkmate might be your worst nightmare. Using multiple angles including social media, police records, previous addresses, and anything else posted to the internet, this website tells anyone who searches your name everything they can gather. The website takes a lengthy amount of time to gather everything it can find, even including listed phone numbers. Each search is anonymous, but requires you to enter your name and email address. For fear of giving the website even more than it already has, this writer didn’t go futher than the email request. One can only imagine what kind of repercussions this website may have. Although moms worldwide can rejoice in their ability to snoop on their daughters’ new boyfriends. Good Luck, trouble makers….